A few photos from Cosi Fan Tutte from the New Israeli Opera. I'll have Brian comment later. Pictured with Brian is a lovely singer from Austria named Paul. The old man in the third photo is not an old man at all but a very nice singer from Italy named Stefano. Brian has very much enjoyed working with all the singers of his cast.

I got in trouble for taking these photos. I guess the shop lady does not want me to reproduce this insanity. I suppose some people want to match their wedding cake. I would have loved this dress for my Barbies, but it seems like it should not be life-size.

This is our favorite juice bar. Today we had a watermelon-mint drink. Yesterday I had carrot-ginger-orange and Brian had some smoothie. It is all very yummy. Our friend Louise gets two juices (or more) a day. I also love the guy on the orange scooter. We wonder if he tried to drink his smoothie too fast and is now suffering the consequences.

We have had some busy days, so busy that today was mainly a series of naps. (Colin got up at 5:30 so I got up with him until 7am when Brian took over until 9:30. Brian went back to sleep at 10am and Colin and I followed at 10:30 when we all slept until just after noon.) Brian has a show every other day this week, and I was able to go last night thanks to a fellow singer who stayed with Colin. Brian sounded great, but the show is weird. We were up way too late because we were watching Miss Universe and got sucked in when Miss USA fell in her evening gown.

So we have had a busy few days. We walked back to Jaffa with some friends from church and sadly forgot the camera. We had a wonderful lunch of Northern African food that was amazing.

In the above photo, Brian wanted to wash his favorite travel pants so washed them on his body. I found the behavior peculiar. Colin loves his bath time and enjoys controlling the water.

This is a fountain on the street Diezengoff. Diezengoff used to be the big thoroughfare, before malls. There is still great window shopping on Diezengoff.

If only we had a need for yarmulkas (spelling? The speller does not seem to know what I want to say.)

Our time is running out in Israel and there are many things we will miss about Tel Aviv. Living two blocks from the Mediterranean is one of them. We love long walks on the beach. We will also miss yummy yogurt (you know, ones that have fat in them so they are more delicious. American yogurt is sad.) Tel Aviv is quite baby friendly with lots of little parks and baby people. We will miss delicious falafel and shewarma, fresh juice and beautiful produce, and and our relaxed city life. The week after next we spend a few days in England on our way home, then on to Mexico City. . .

We spent the evening the other night at an Ethiopian restaurant we like. Colin was quite a stinker and did not want to sit in his booster chair for dinner (a recent darling component of his toddler hood). His mischievous expression above kind-of says it all. Lucky for us and for the rest of the restaurant, we were able to be alone on the patio.

This is Brian with our opera friend Louise who is Dorabella in his cast. We spent a fun few days with Louise this week. Colin loves her, and she is very nice and patient with our crazy boy. Louise is originally from Australia, and is in the new Kenneth Branaugh Magic Flute film we are anxious to see. She is the Second Lady (it's the biggest mezzo role in the opera). Maybe some of our friends have already seen it? It looks great. She was teaching Brian about kinesiology and clearing his energy on the patio of the restaurant. At one point another restaurant patron came out to watch the little show.

While we still had a rental car this last week, we took advantage to go to a large park in Tel Aviv. The park had a bird zoo, and we looked at a strange assortment of birds and deer. Our thought was to let Colin run free, but he fell asleep so Brian played. We love our new travel stroller because it has a full recline. I have so much to write about our recent stroller obsession, but maybe now is not the time. It has been a big deal in our little lives recently. Anyway. . .

Random goat art in our apartment. We have seen quite a bit of goat art, and we kind of do not get it. We tell Colin it is a doggy.

Colin had his first real haircut this morning (he had a little trim at 1 year, but it was just around the ears). Ann did an incredible job of keeping him happy while I hovered around him with the scissors awaiting the snipping moments. -B

The beautiful Dead Sea- The mountains on the other shore are Jordan. It is a spectacular place. The water is like nothing you've ever felt. It is so saline that it is practically viscous. It feels like oil on your skin. Weird at first, but you get use to it. You really cannot go underwater because you're so bouyant. If you bend your legs underneath you, the water will hit a little below your sternum.

So since I am embarrassed to directly photograph the interesting people I want to photograph, I shoot them from behind or take a larger photo and then crop it. The top three photos are all near the Western Wall.